Pint -Sized SSB Offers Great Performance
Reprinted with express permission.

The name "SGC" is well-known and respected in marine communications, amateur radio MARS installations, and military COMMS. SGC equipment is built in the CISA at their large corporate office settled among the tall trees in Bellevue, WA. SGC is also known for automatic antenna couplers. These couplers require absolutely no data line connection to a transceiver, and they tune up any kind of long wire or vertical radiator-from 10 feet to 300 feet, from 1.8 MHz through 54 MHz. And if it's POWER that you may want, SGC also produces a solid-state, 500-watt, 1.8 MHz-30 MHz linear amplifier, along with a 500-watt automatic antenna tuner that can take the half a kilowatt.

SG-2020
SGC has just introduced a new high-frequency SSB transceiver, Model SG-2020. This pint-sized performer weighs only 4-1/2 pounds minus the snap-on, 12 volt power pack, and covers from 1.8 MHz to 30 MHz CW, lower sideband, and upper sideband frequencies. The ham band version transmits on all amateur radio high-frequency bands, and an export version transmits continuously from 1.8 MHz to 30 MHz.

The SG-2020 gets its model number name by 20 pre-memorized memo channels, and 20 watts minimum peak output power. The ham version we tested was factory pre-memorized on each one of the ham bands including the WARC bands plus reception of WWV at 10 MHz and 15 MHz. The time signals allow hams, mariners, or shortwave listeners to tune into the WWV ionospheric propagation report at l8 minutes past the hour, plus GPS and ocean weather updates plus every-second time ticks. Also, the inclusion of WWV in the memory may allow mariners to accurately set the tuning dial within 1 HZ for the reception of weather facsimile signals.

The 20 Watts listed for power output is a conservative rating. On our test bench, we could actually whistle it up to 40 watts of peak envelope power output on the ham bands. Power output slightly fell off on the 10-meter band, but was still well above the 20-watt minimum.

But don't sneeze at 20-40 watts of power output when thinking that this radio might not perform as well as one of those supersmall ham rigs. Most of the new ham rigs have the ALC (automatic limiting control) set so tight that normal speech-is around the 30-40 watt level. Sure, you can whistle an ICOM, Alinco, and Kenwood up to 100 watts, but as they come from the factory, typical power output loafs around 30 to 50 watts with normal speech.

The SGC-2020 SSB HF transceiver is ideal for field day operation. Output power is adjustable from just a few milliwatts up to 20 watts and more peak envelope power. At 20 watts, current consumption is only four amps, and down at 1 to 5 watts QRP operation, current consumption is just over one amp. this means you could power this unit quite nicely off of a small gel battery and a solar panel during field day operation. The LCD display is perfectly readable in the bright sunlight, and is back-lit for nighttime operation, too. You can even turn off the back light to conserve power requirements.